Life Mantras

24 Jun 2018 - Berkeley, CA

…aka me (now, as an adult) talking to myself as a kid. This is not just another lame self-help guide. JK, it totally is!

!!Cliché Warning!! !!Banal Platitudes Warning!! (throughout this document - so deep!):

Rhetoric is bad. Avoid it like The Plague.

Publish, publish, and publish. Also, broadcast culture. Download it; copy it; burn, press, and print it to hard, physical, tangible, and not-just-digital media; distribute it; share it with others; preserve it. Play music out loud in order to gain perspective - both the different sounds (e.g., vs. headphones) and the possibility of others hearing it may change your opinion about a song.

Publish useful stuff (within the confines of legality).

Don’t be afraid. Dive right in.

Follow your compulsions while deciding to be good. Your compulsions are unique and not the same as others’.

In any task, do only what’s necessary.

If you had one year left to live, what would you do right now? O-K, now do it!

When there’s (attractive) magnetism between people, it’s clear, and you’ll know it - just like how two magnets with opposite poles “know it” and attract. Sometimes - just like what happens with the magnetic poles on Earth - the polarity switches during one’s lifetime, and that’s one of the many sad inevitabilities of biological life on Earth (and perhaps elsewhere also and again not limited to “living” organisms). General rule-of-thumb in life: If something feels even remotely forced, it’s time to move forward and onward with pride - there’s a whole, new world out there!

For every task, first define the “measure of success”.

Success is relative to happiness.

Seek to accomplish and achieve 1,000 failures, and you’ll end up with one success. Failure is the necessary and difficult road to success.

Put something back in the place where you first looked for it. (Credit not mine; sauce: Reddit Life Pro Tips). Also, it’s always in the last place you look (har har).

Everything’s going to be O-K, «insert your or someone else’s name». (gives hug)

One blog post per day. One Git commit per day.

The pain is real. The struggle is real. It’s hard to be a human being (the latter is from Jimmie Whisman, American comedian).

Don’t be a «insert_curse_word».

Pursue hobbies and interests according to your heroes, role models, or inspirations, and consider adopting their (ideally good) traits and mannerisms - there’s a good reason you’re interested in them as people.

Never boast (unless you’re hungry) - you’ll eat your words.

If anything in life is easy, you’re not doing it right (i.e., you’re doing it wrong). Nothing’s easy if done well. (More realistically, if anything in life is easy, you’re either doing it sub-optimally, or you’ve already learned how to do it optimally.)

Strive for excellence. Whether you achieve it or not doesn’t matter. ‘Tis the strive that counts. Also, do it for yourself - no one else ultimately cares, and if for some reason they do, it’s equally possible they want you to fail as succeed (ignore ‘em!).

Self-immerse in culture whenever awake (heck, even while sleeping).

Attempt to emanate heartfelt love in every action.

Don’t strive to be an attractive human; strive to be an attractive skeleton.

Unleash the power of the brain/consciousness/mind.

Strive for continuous improvement; it’s good enough for all intents and purposes.

The best engineer is completely replaceable by another human; even better, by an algorithm. Thus, a good engineer strives for (and ideally achieves) self-automation. In fact, the Good Engineer successfully self-automates herself out of a job (oops!) - it’s the necessary self-sacrifice for the greater cause of Good Engineering. Write and deploy (hand off) the engineering specification of yourself (what you do in your job).

MYOB (and BYOB): Mind your own business (and, while you’re at it, bring your own dang brrr).

Use the Oxford comma. It’s more professional, accurate and precise. See, doesn’t that bother you, too?

Always check first if milk is spoiled or else you shall greatly regret it later. If it is, dump it before you get hurt. (And, make sure to do it the clean and responsible way so the carton doesn’t turn to rot and attract flies.)

Shave with cold water. I know - it’s counterintuitive. Heck, while we’re at it, floss the teeth you wish to keep, and wear sunscreen.

For every file you add/create, process and delete another one.

Yea, it sucks. So it goes. Such is life. Keep truckin’. Go forth. Forge onward. Venture upward - whatever that means to you (and you alone).

Think before you act. Will this action hurt someone? If so, use a different approach. Think before you speak. Will these words hurt someone? If so, rephrase it.

Don’t sh!t where you eat. (Avoid dating colleagues, roommates, housemates, apartmentmates, etc.). While we’re at it, avoid nicotine, tobacco, and credit card debt like The Plague. Someone told me the latter when I was a kid - I want to pay it forward.

Sounds selfish; it’s not: Do. Every. Single. Thing. For. Yourself - first and foremost. Align your goals with helping and doing good for others. Take. Care. Of. Yourself. First. This applies even if you’re with someone. e.g., Buy your own groceries and cook for yourself, even if you’re with someone else - your partner will appreciate it (i.e., Don your own floaties and oxygen mask first; then get to helping others.)

You get what you measure.

Say the Programmer’s Prayer when needed: Please, J0d, help me solve this bug.

Thank you J0d for this meal.

When all else fails - when you hit a mental block - use a Parallax view (i.e., looking at something through an entirely different ideological framework).

Focus your adult life on remembering what you liked and returning to who you were as a kid. As you grow up, you’ll forget this (or perhaps actively displace it from the memory out of rebellious rejection and thinking it must be uncool - in fact, arguably it’s your most true, real, unfiltered, unique, individualistic, and actually cool self). Focus your adult life on remembering what you liked as a kid (interests and hobbies).

No FOMO: Have no Fear of Missing Out, because you have already missed out (e.g., before you were born); you’re missing out right now (e.g., while you’re alive); and, you’ll always miss out (e.g., after you’re dead). For any given event, there are at least 100 of the same happening elsewhere at the same time. At every moment, focus on the here and the now - what feels good, just, and right to you. Neither seek nor fear to miss out.

Sh!t happens. Life goes on and dishes exist. Nothing matters except to be good. Just get it done - finish the job.

Regarding matters of trivial concern: If you ignore something, it will go away.

Never look up matters of health online (on the Internet). If you do, you’ll find out that you have the very worst type of irreversible and untreatable condition (which you don’t have; and, even if you do, see above life mantra: Everything will be O-K, «insert your or someone else’s name»).

2-week rule: Give every health issue of moderate concern two weeks. If you’re still thinking about it at that point, schedule an appointment to talk to a professional (for peace of mind if nothing else).

3-2-1 rule: Three hours of sleep, two hot meals, and one shower per day (credit not mine; source: SomaFM DEF Con Radio station).

15-minute rule: Let a child cry for 15-minutes before attending to them. (Of course, monitor the situation in the meantime.) It teaches discipline (a quality that’s greatly lacking in this modern world).

I double dog dare you not to ever complain to anyone about any issue no matter how large or small you perceive it to be; rather, report it to a professional who can actually help the problem that you may or may not have. Turn every would-be complaint into a professional reporting process (as well as a learning experience).

Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. It’s already at or beyond 80%. Ship it, and fix it later as needed.

You’re going to get through it, even if you’re all on your own.

It’s one (bad) thing to be an a-hole; it’s altogether another to be a dirtbag aka scumbag. Avoid any hint of scumbaggery at all times like The Plague.

Never accept a job (e.g., if and when switching jobs) without a sign-on bonus especially in the middle of a calendar year. The tax burden (i.e., effort, time, and cost) alone of switching jobs requires it.

Nothing on the outside ultimately matters (your skin, your bones, your teeth, your mobility, etc.). Only your brain matters. Do everything you can to protect your brain and you can get by no matter what happens to your physical body. Of course, when your body ultimately breaks down, you’re done for (incl. your brain).

Never leave Git unsynced to the cloud repository. You may lose your computer and thus your unsynced changes (i.e., work).

Attempt to channel original thoughts into useful published form (e.g., in the real-world “meatspace”, e.g., participation in plays, open mic sessions, freestyle raps, or in the digital “cyberspace”, e.g., publication to GitHub, SoundCloud, etc.). We’re mere tools of consciousness - vectors to publication of unique thoughts and cultural proliferation (incl. in spoken word). Don’t get too absorbed into the digital world - you’ll become a “talking head”. Use the body you were given to (phenomenologically) interact with (i.e., measure) the world. Data is gold (credit not mine; source: TBD hedge fund).

Nothing ultimately matters, while things do matter to people. In times when facing anxiety or depression, realize that nothing ultimately matters except human decency and passing the boredom each day and thereby not losing your sanity. Relentlessly pursue (albeit ultimately, entirely meaningless) life goals in order to stave off boredom and make the world a better place for animals (fauna), people, and plants (flora). (In the end, the sun’ll stop shining. In the meantime, life can always be better.) When possible, eat enough to sleep each night. See also: 3-2-1 rule.

Be as simple and clear as possible in your writing. Use Simple English when possible.

Always give credit where credit is due (essential ethical and moral code; if you ever take credit for anything that’s not yours, you’re a sc**bag).

Rearrange your apartment/domicile/house/room every day; this is one of the many, natural psychological medications prescribed by the Situationist International (SI) movement and philosophy.

The only reason you care about anything bad that happens to you in life is because you’re afraid of your own mortality (i.e., your vastly limited life and impending death). Lose your fear of mortality, and you’ll be able to face anything bad that happens to you in life. Like the speed of light is to velocity, death is the ultimate “bad” event to happen to you (because once you’re dead, no Earthly matter matters anymore). And, just like a person who is experiencing and living light-speed first-hand sees time come to a stop, the person who manages to live without fear of mortality sees the occurrence of insurmountably “bad” events come to a full stop and is able to overcome everything regardless of what it is and continue to move forward.

Before doing anything really important, close your eyes and roll them towards the back of your head. (!!Caution!! Don’t fall over!) Think and feel to yourself: “What do I want to do right now?” So long as that thing is socially acceptable and whatnot, do it. Namely, roll your own consciousness back unto itself; like Inception, always think on a meta-level (think about your own thinking; constructively criticize your own modes and outputs of thinking - this takes serious, meditative-like focus).

Bad times suck. However, the worst of times are also the greatest fuel for artistic creation (music, fiction writing, etc.). Channel the worst of times in this productive way.

Exercise your imagination to the fullest potential. It’s the most powerful thing you can do with your brain/consciousness/mind.

Everything in life that can go wrong, will go wrong, so prepare for it. Accept this principle as the premise of your life in every second of every day, especially in the times when absolutely everything is falling apart around you. Prepare for the worst in every moment.

Build tools around workflows, not workflows around tools. Credit not mine. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24244329

Be present, but fly under the radar at all times (if nothing else, out of a safety concern for your own loved ones and self).

As a rule, never look up yourself (“ego-surfing”) or others on the Internet. Never “surf” without purpose. Do everything for a specific purpose driven by your mind, even if “everything” is nothing because your mind doesn’t feel like doing anything.

Train your mind to operate on three concurrent paths at all times: 1.) the here and now, 2.) the immediate next step, and 3.) making sure #1 and #2 are all there ever is.

F**k you, pay me. We only live once (WOLO). This is OUR time to live OUR lives; it’s OUR time, NOT yours!

Wait two weeks to report any medical, dental, etc. issue to a professional (doctor, dentist, etc.).

When it comes to hobbies and interests, return to your child-state: Embrace games, puzzles, and riddles. Reject innately-tempting, curmudgeonly behavior when possible. The world sucks without good people doing good things; you must manifest not-suck into the world or else it will innately suck. Nature is a monstrosity. Embrace it, and make an active effort to have fun.

If you don’t wish to be judged for your vulnerabilities, or you’re just tired of it all, be alone forever. That doesn’t sound like much fun, though.

It’s water under the bridge: When you regret something but cannot change it, figure out the lesson(s) to be learned as quickly as possible, and then immediately forget about everything except the valuable lesson(s). Never repeat the mistake. You’re human and will make mistakes. This is the best you can do after the fact (it’s what you can do to make up for the mistake - how you restore justice to the situation and world).

How to prioritize: Ask yourself, “If I were to croak right here and now, what would make people shake their heads and say, ‘She should have done or had this, tsk-tsk, SMH,’ or, ‘If only she’d (or had not) done that,’ and so on. Now fill those gaps so they won’t be able to say it.

I prefer “missed” to “lost”. Many things in life are lost but not all are missed after they’re lost.

Embrace a modified Hanlon’s razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by absolute, complete, and utter indifference towards anything whatsoever having to do with you.

Finish the job! (Don’t get sidetracked.)

Units, units, units!

Re: Job. Look at your own résumé, curriculum vitae (CV), and cover letter. Ask yourself and consider the question: Would you hire you for this position (e.g., over the other likely candidates)? If not, it might not be a good fit; perhaps best to move to the next opportunity.

Aim for good enough for government work. Achieve this and you can move on with life. After all, a decent government is one that exists to serve its people (one cannot say the same about the private sector).

May I please get an “F.” for the homies? Esp. for all the fallen soldiers. (“F.” is Internet slang in solidarity for all that’s terrible in the world.)

You do you, and don’t disturb others in the process. Embrace what’s uniquely you. Don’t be afraid to let it out, even if others happen to see and judge you for it. Make it good!

Every day, do at least one activity that genuinely scares you (and makes you sweat).

At work: What needs to get done, will get done, and you’ll know it. Everything else is gravy.

Another day, more B.S. - another challenge. Great. Now you know what to expect - embrace it!

Focus on doing your job and doing it well. You’re getting paid for a reason. At the same time, don’t allow employment to rob you of your entire (one) life (just the majority of the waking part of it!). Gotta make a living somehow someway.

Less fussin’, mo’ tussin. (The best “tussin” is culture; even better is “deep culture” - culture you must dig deep to find.)

News flash: The to-do list will never get shorter. Get used to it. Also, the more you know, the less you know.

Don’t attempt to fail; if you do, you’ll succeed (which defeats the point).

Yes! That’s right! You lost it! You lost all of it! And it’ll never come back. And you’ll never see it again. It’s gone…forever! What was once shall never be again. It’s a done-deal. So, better get used to it. Time to move on - immediately. Get over it - it’s water under the bridge. Chin up (don’t think about what you can’t change). Remain strong - stay strong. Stand tall, soldier. Move on - move forward. Get on with it. Get up and on with it, now. Forget about it. Don’t dawdle. Get back to it, and stop ponderin’ it. Stop thinkin’ about it. Life goes on…life goes on; time to move on…move on!

Close friends are the family you choose.

Math is math. (In this case, not merely a platitude; you can’t argue with math without bringing the whole system down, a la logician Kurt Gödel.)

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Not doing is doing. (i.e., Not doing something is doing something - this includes all variants of meditation incl. mindlessness.)

To each her own. What works for you may not work for others. Don’t knock it ‘til you try it. Judge not. Just focus on doing what floats your boat!

Self-acceptance, self-acceptance, self-acceptance. 100%, absolute, at-all-times, deep-down, fundamental, wholehearted, to-the-bone, at-the-core (hence, “Life Mantras”) self-acceptance is absolutely, first and foremost, foundational, fundamental, key, and pivotal to mental (psychological) stability and well-being.

Bees don’t look up, so they get trapped in the honey traps.

How to cook (simple): 1. Put food on stove, 2. Apply heat, 3. Wait. Now eat up!

How to cook (complex): 1. Add ingredients, 2. Apply heat, 3. Wait. Mangia! Bon appetit!

Trying is no substitute for thinking.

Tit for tat: Tit for tat is the proven, most effective life strategy. It may not be the happiest one, though! If and when you seek increased happiness, use different approaches to life.

It’s O-K if you’re not happy all of the time.

Beauty fades; intelligence lasts longer.

Fail fast. (Credit to M.D.)

One day at a time. One step at a time.

Break the cycle.

The cure to existential boredom: Immerse yourself in culture and nature. Publish.

Trust statistics. It’s essential to have faith in statistics. Statistics is the basis of Truth.

Always leave things - incl. the world - in a better state than how you found it.

Don’t be afraid of your own success (or failure for that matter).

If possible, you should try not to use use the words “if possible”, should”, or “try”. ;–)

At any given moment, it’s best to look within and do whatever you feel like doing, even if that’s nothing at all. (Obviously, sometimes “life” gets in the way.)

FOCUS. Keep coding!

ABR: Always be recording (compliments of Heavyweight podcast)

ABP: Always be publishing (my own variant)

The more mistakes you make, the faster you’re making progress. Mistakes are a direct corollary of progress. Embrace mistakes. No replies, no regrets.

If ain’t baroque, don’t fix it (compliments of Ms. Bach, my middle school music teacher, who taught me how to use a digital audio workstation DAW).

Focus on doing your own thing well. Eventually, people will gravitate towards it (and, thus, you) (compliments of James Pietragallo and Jimmie Whisman, American comedians).

Procrastination is not a bug, it’s a feature. Put absolute faith into your procrastination skills. They’ll get you where you need to be/go.

Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.

Walk Planet Earth like an animal (because you are one). Do things with purpose. Pay attention to your here and now.

20/20/20 rule: Every 20 minutes, stare at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

Bravery. Care. Compassion. Courage. Ethics. Faith/fidelity. Generosity. Gratitude. Honesty. Integrity. Justice. Kindness. Morality. Passion. Solidarity. Truth.

Pace yourself. Maximum efficiency, minimum effort. No frills, no B.S.

Trust yourself. Trust your gut.

It’s A-OK to joke to cope.

Ask and sometimes (oftentimes) ye shall receive.

Dishes in the sink mean more than you think.

You might feel like cr@p today. If so, don’t worry, fear not, and don’t despair: Chances are you’ll probably feel better tomorrow (or shortly thereafter).

Trace the source. In journalism: Follow the money $.

Regrets are the only way to learn, grow, and improve. Embrace regrets and be thankful for them (and such opportunities).

Continuously build your mountain carefully, purposely, slowly, and steadily, one rock at a time, beginning of course with a broad, robust foundation and then building upon that.

Don’t do any work that you can viably outsource to someone else who’s more qualified than you. Any other strategy is purely driven by ego. Lose the ego - you’ll be infinitely more productive.

Let it go! It’s perhaps the most important and practical/useful (also, for some people, the most difficult) life lesson of all to genuinely learn and practice how to bravely/courageously/nobly let ALL things go.

If it doesn’t make you weep (feel deep emotion), don’t publish it. (Paraphrased: Don’t publish!t).

Target micro-progress.

Start the jigsaw puzzle at the corners.

Immerse yourself in culture and exercise-work (mental and physical).

Exploit easy distractibility to your ultimate progress-advantage: Purposefully vary it up.

Each day, try to do at least ONE thing you dread to do; if possible, THE thing you dread to do the most.

It’s better to underpromise than underdeliver.

Missed thoughts are O-K (not always bad). Let the best thoughts percolate to the top. Let forgetfulness be the filter of good ideas. Cream rises.

EVERYTHING you do, including all of your “mistakes”, you do for a reason. Much of the time, if not all, it’s unconscious. Because of this, there’s no reason to worry about everything (or anything?). Just try your best to be good, and forget about the rest. Relax!

Major cliche warning: It’s hard to be a human being. Just focus on “doing” you.(Duh! JK) And try to be/do good always. Ethics and morals are real/matter.

Take pride in finishing something, anything, whether it’s a drink, a plate of food, or a project.

Waste not, want not.

If you think you need a lawyer, the answer is yes & it might already be too late.

If you’ve thought of something once, it’s in your brain’s capacity to think of it again - the neural networks exist.

Don’t marry your first partner; chances are it is not a miracle and you are not in fact compatible. Don’t hire the first person you interview; you need to compare and contrast candidates in order to gain a good perspective.

Re job and work: Whatever NEEDS to happen, WILL happen. Everything else is optional.

Procrastination is our only remaining middle finger (F U) to The Man! Procrastination is an art. Make it an art.

The kids who don’t take & eat the cookie 1st are (turn out to be) the smartest. It’ll be massively painful; however, you must wait, and ultimately you shall be greatly rewarded (with your cookie).

Fail fast.

Walk bravely into that good night, soldier: Toss your digital and physical trash with courage, change/move your situation frequently (like a nomad), and sync up your changes - all without regret(s).

Your missed opportunity is what actually becomes a memory - of regret. When you are present, it becomes unmemorable. When you miss it, you remember it, albeit with regret.

Life Mantras

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